Harm of mining waste

A large number of mining wastes accumulate, polluting the land, or causing disasters such as landslides and mudslides. Debris and tailings formed by weathering of waste rocks are either washed into water, dissolved and infiltrated into groundwater, or blown into the atmosphere by the wind, polluting the environment with water and gas as the medium. Some of these wastes contain highly toxic elements such as arsenic and cadmium, and some contain radioactive elements, which are harmful to human health.

Mine waste rocks and tailings not only occupy a lot of land, but also directly pollute the environment and threaten people's lives and property. A medium-sized tailings dam generally covers an area of more than hundreds of acres, and the investment cost required to build a tailings dam is also very amazing.

Tailings have the characteristics of fine particles, light weight, large surface area, easy to lose when encountering water, easy to fly when encountering wind and so on. Therefore, tailings are a potential hazard to air, water, farmland and villages. During the period of 1964, the tailings dam in Bourcq, northern Wales, England was washed away by the flood. After the loss of tailings, a large area of fertile grassland was destroyed, covering a thickness of 0.5m, which seriously polluted the soil and killed a large area of pasture. 1970 In September, the tailings from the tailings dam of Mufulila copper mine in Zambia flooded into the mine pit, killing 89 underground workers and flooding the Peterson mining area. During the period of 1986, the tailings dam of Dongpo lead-zinc mine in Hunan Province collapsed due to heavy rain, causing dozens of casualties and direct economic losses of several million yuan. On June 5438+065438+ 10, 2000, a tailings dam in Hechi, Guangxi, caused dozens of deaths, dozens of houses collapsed and suffered heavy losses.